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Tonight’s vote to end the government shutdown represents a watershed moment. The New York Times headline, “Republicans Back Down, Ending Budget Crisis,” understates the importance of this vote. The extreme right wing has controlled the Republican Party for too long. Using the so-called “Hastert Rule,” the most extreme members of Congress forced the rest of the party to follow them in a disastrous attempt to undo the Affordable Care Act. All it brought them was defeat, humiliation, record-low approval ratings, and the shame of having wasted tens of billions of taxpayer dollars. It’s time for moderate Republicans to retake control of their party. By my count... »

The editorial page of The Wall Street Journal has consistently followed the right-wing line, blasting the Affordable Care Act at every opportunity. Perhaps if they read their own paper, they’d sing a different tune. This Sunday’s WSJ contained an article titled, “How Obamacare Benefits Older Workers.” The article points out that, for older workers not yet eligible for Medicare, “the ACA could provide an opportunity to get more-affordable insurance than in the past and make it possible to get coverage for those who might otherwise be denied insurance or find it too costly.” The article goes on to say: “For those age 65 and older, the ACA doesn’... »

The New York Times published an extensively-researched article about the “blueprint for defunding Obamacare” created “shortly after President Obama started his second term.” The plan was devised by the usual right wing conspirators: Tea Party Patriots, Americans for Prosperity, Freedom Works, the Club for Growth, and Heritage Action. Where did the money come from? Charles and David Koch, through one of their front groups, spent more than $200 million on this sinister effort. When Hillary Clinton said there was a “vast right-wing conspiracy,” people said she was exaggerating. We now know she was right. The shame is that all this money and suffering is being... »

Join us on Saturday, October 19th as we ask Democrats to sign petitions for Matt and other Democratic candidates. We’ll have two shifts, one from 9am to noon and one from 1pm to 4pm. Meet at the Palatine Democrats’ office, 1310 W. Northwest Highway in Arlington Heights. In between shifts, we’ll meet at the office for pizza and conversation. We’ll have a notary available to notarize your petitions. If you’d like to circulate Matt’s petition before then, you can download a copy here. Even if you can’t join us for the morning or afternoon shift, come by the office between noon and 1pm. We’ll have petitions there for you to sign. Complete the conta... »

Ezra Klein boiled down the current situation in one sentence: “The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics — it is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.” He’s quoting Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein in their excellent book “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism.” Mann and Ornstein (a Republican and a Democrat) went on to say: “When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country’s challenges.” Klein says, “the Republican Party’s problem is... »

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Paid for by the Greater Palatine Area Democrats. A copy of our report filed with the State Board of Elections is (or will be) available on the Board’s official website (www.elections.il.gov) or for purchase from the State Board of Elections, Springfield, Illinois.